GAME05

old thread i thought i'd revive because it's the off-season:) unfortunately i'm still a dirty dirty smoker. i just learned yesterday that there's more technology on the market than just the cigarette-type e-cigarettes, which have never really been all that great. apparently there's much better ones out there more the shape of a cigar. supposed to be much better vapor and different flavors and everything. i ordered one yesterday and am looking forward to it arriving. excited is more like it. for the past few months it's gotten to the point where i can truly tell my lungs are hurting. not to mention i'm debating getting a law enforcement license and i'd never pass the physical test if i still smoked.

for every single thing that gets pointed out, ask the tour guide if that's the way baseball intended it to be, and to be specific in which ways it's better than any other stadium in baseball.

the Botanical Gardens is good and free two days of the week. although i can't figure much is growing right now. there are lots of ethnic neighbourhoods to get some good food. that may be your best bet. a lot of fantastic and interesting stuff. there's a good Bosnian area and a Serbian area to get food. some decent disc golf courses. the tour of Grant's Farm is actually less exciting than you'd think it would be. a close relative lives there. it's like the whole city is in a constant state of disrepair.

Udoh and a playoff appearance. i mean, that playoff appearance was a thrill ride, wasn't it? "If they could somehow turn an guy like Ilyasova into a second lottery pick.." asking honestly, is Ilyasova worth that, or is he more like "hooray, we picked up yet another second rounder!" ?

last night i was listening to a radio station that was replaying a month-old (or so) interview with Josh Sitton and Eddie Lacy. Lacy hasn't/hadn't seen snow before.

or maybe Hammonds is a genius and knew that OJ and Butler would stink. the fans get some FAs to cheer for yet we get to compete for a top-3 draft pick.

yay, we'll luck out to get the #1, draft Wiggins, and we'll still stink. Hammonds is trying to get somewhere in a boat with one oar.

Bachelor? that's the most foul show on television.

well, kicked out of yet another beer-tour tasting room. not belligerent or anything, just a "you've had enough" thing. this time it was the one in Monroe. do the groupon and it's $5 and i got about six pints of beer plus a glass and four free beers for the road. the girl who first gave me a time limit went to do a tour, so the new bartenders didn't know i'd been there for a while already. you have the option of skipping the tour, as if i'd want to see for the millionth time how beer is made.

eh, it didn't really bother me much. you guys do a ton of work to maintain an excellent site. espn could very well load immediately, but i'd never know because i won't ever be visiting there.

so you're saying "What's Bugging You?" won't take five minutes to load anymore? because that was bugging me.

how come there aren't generic versions of candy bars?

Bubba Ho-Tep

dangit, apparently i sent $200 worth of stuff bought on Amazon to a former apartment in Texas. talked to the apartment (the office takes the deliveries) and they said they send unclaimed packages back to sender (i'll go ahead and presume the new tenants didn't just nab it when they got the delivery notice). i originally caught the error 5 seconds after i completed the order, canceled the order, then changed to my current address. guess it didn't take.

thanks Baldkin and Invader. today i made $5/hr. last Tuesday was probably my worst day, working 13 hours and earning $55. i'm about the only one paying attention to wages, so things will be fun next week Friday. as it is, every single person is an inch away from quitting. but of course, that gives up unemployment, which is why nobody will do anything. plus the round ends probably Friday before we're back to making about $11/hr. i'll be asking for a photocopy of my manager-signed timesheet on the one-never-knows chance i get canned and can then go to court. but what it comes down to is go to court and get my meager amount of back wages, but lose accrued time on the job for unemployment. ultimately i'm thinking i'm better off just sucking it up. i plan on moving come November/December, so unemployment wages will mean a lot to me.

as good as he is a a defensive 1B, i just have a hard time seeing him get any playing time with Gamel and Morris playing the position next year. and as a bench player, only being able to play RF and 1B isn't particularly valuable. i wonder if a lot may rest on whether or not Aoki gets traded. if he does, we could have a need for Hart in RF, even if Gamel gets some time at the position (which i doubt). at the worst, we'd be able to get him on a pretty cheap deal next year. i'll celebrate his return just on the fact that as an offensive player, he's worth more than the $5M he'll probably get on a one-year "prove you're healthy" contract.

I know with the job market right now employers have the upper hand, but this shouldn't be happening. I remember there was a case a few years back, where a guy had to spend something like 45 minutes every day putting on his gear before his job (I can't remember what he did exactly). He ended up suing and winning for back wages. that's interesting. although maybe there's a difference that i'm paid only on commission. and if i'm paid to fertilize a lawn, i guess that means i have to spend the extra time to put fertilizer in my truck (etc.). the job runs to November and i have zero intention of returning for a second season. so mostly i just don't care enough about the job to want to go through the hassle of the court system for what would amount to maybe $3000 of back wages.

i think i actually made that other thread. good memory. i don't think it got too deep, though. i have a lot of experience trying to find jobs out of state. you find someone interested and they give you this sinking "oh" when they find out you still live 1,000 miles away. higher-profile jobs that would pay you to fly out are one thing, but not for entry-level type stuff. the interviewer doesn't want to fork out $300 for just an interview, and they also don't want to have to face watching you spend $300 to get out there only to turn you down for the job. so the "i'll come out to interview at my own expense" line doesn't really do much good. and i haven't found a lot of employers yet who are willing to do a Skype interview. the current economy doesn't help, either. there's usually a pool of very qualified and underemployed people living in the area, so why go to the effort to accommodate someone out of state? one trick i've done is to use a friend's address who lives in the destination city on my resume. and when they call, just say i'm currently visiting my parents, and that i'll be back the following week. but still, if it takes 10 interviews to land a job, that's a heck of a lot of money to be traveling out there and back so often. or you could say that you'll be visiting town X week and then try to schedule four or five interviews during that time. i don't really have the best advice for you. usually what i've done is just move out there on a wing and a prayer. but i can't say that's always worked out. even with savings, money burns quick when none is coming in. if you want to do the 'fake local address' thing, my brother lives out there and i think i could lend you his mailbox. i've also tried getting the $9/hr garbage job to get me by until i landed something real, but that's also hard since taking a year to find a real job isn't out of the ordinary these days. any chance you know how to be a barista? is it "baristo" when you're a dude? if it means anything, i lived in the Denver area for two years and it's awesome.

way to go TLB!

it's part of the reason i left the editorial field. executives look at the editorial department and see the costs without any money earned, so it's an easier department to cut. and most people don't fully understand the value of editing/proofreading. there's a strong sense in many businesses of "Oh, we can do that!" you don't think twice about hiring an electrician because you don't know how to do it yourself, but everyone knows how to write. so because of this, editorial departments are filled with entry-level college students making $24,000 per year, who don't have the experience to know that "guy" isn't appropriate to use. ------ i always feel like i should include something that bugs me on this thread instead of just comment, so i guess having to do 1.5 hours of unpaid "preparation" work for my job every day bugs me.

that's funny, i heard "guy" used on WIBA out of Madison last week, and it made me a little angry about it when i heard it. very amateur move by the writer, and the newscaster should have caught it in proofing, too.

Gomez is sure fun to watch play and we really don't have anyone ready to take his position. i'm not as high on Schafer suddenly taking a starting role. still, if you're going to trade high on someone, that's definitely Gomez. if he could nab two ML-ready prospects i'd love the trade, even though i think Gomez is going to be good for a lot of years to come. i'm more in the "trade everyone" camp except for Braun and Segura. i know DM isn't big on trading someone and creating a hole, and i get that we've got nothing to fill the 3B position without him, but isn't there a value to trading ARam just to get rid of his $20M paycheck next year?

i figure Hart would be looking for a 1-year deal to prove to us and other teams that he's healthy before he goes for a bigger contract. i'd be happy to take him on a 1/5-7, even if it doesn't mean he doesn't play a prominent role on the team next year. Morris is too good of a prospect and Gamel is still an unknown that there's just no way to fit Hart in at 1B next year, even despite good defense at the position. you could theoretically move Gamel to RF, but that's not really done with players coming off basically two years of injury. i'm assuming Gomez will be gone next year, as well as Aoki, so there's a definite need for some OF help, even if Hart isn't that flexible defensively. Hart's age and injury don't justify a longer deal, but he'd be a great addition on a one year deal. i'd love to see him back.

what keeps sticking with me is how completely rudderless the Bucks are. it's like Hammonds has no real plan for the future of the team and is just doing what feels right in the moment. trade Harris for Reddick? ok, i guess the team is in "win-now" mode. then they select the biggest project player in the draft. i like the potential, but he won't be able to make any significant contribution to the team for a couple years yet. i think 90% of the problems the Bucks have is because they have no direction. it's like every move Hammonds makes contradicts the one before. everything the Bucks do reminds me of the late Selig-era Brewers, who would field a garbage team and then every two years trot out some middling veteran FA like Jeffrey Hammonds or that expensive FA OF we got from Colorado, give it a ton of press and declare that this is the one piece of the puzzle we really need to make the team competitive again. it fools the common fan for a couple of months, but the person who pays attention knows that it doesn't make a bit of difference. unfortunately for the Bucks, i think the only way they're going to move from their current roster model is if they leave Milwaukee.

i'll likely settle in Winston again since i know the area. my summer job in Madison ends in October, so i'll be on unemployment when i move. where i finally end up depends on who finally hires me, but i do want it to be somewhere in NC.